Hard-disk #............., the system Primary HDD, is protected by a password authentication system

windows-7 hard-drive passwords data-recovery

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Generally, without the HDD password, all data on a password-protected HDD is lost.

There are tools which claim to make such a drive usable but they effectively erase the data on it. I believe this is an inevitable part of the process.

There are claims that the password can be recovered from the HDD for specific models

recovering protection passwords from ATA hard drives

According to the ATA specification, published by t13.org whose last Revison is available in pdf format here , the passwords are stored in the HPA (Host Protected Area). This part of the disc contains some (or all, depending on manufacturer) disk firmware and is protected from access. The operating system is not able to see this because the BIOS, that average disk access, protects it.

But the exact point where to get the password within the HPA depends on the manufacturer. The following procedure goes to retrieve the necessary information for the already mentioned WD Scorpio and very likely for many models Western Digital. Other writers write passwords in different areas and the scripts used contain the offsets of WD.

Other sources of information / solutions

Forensics Wiki: Hard Drive Passwords

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PhillipOReilly

Have developed both Android and iOS Apps. Considerable VBA programming for Excel and Access. PHP and HTML experience as well.

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

PhillipOReilly almost 2 years

A client's Inspirion was requesting a bios password. I retrieved this from Dell. It then asked for HDD Password. Dell provided two options but neither worked.

Quack Quixote suggests simply moving the disk to another computer. When I do this Windows immediately asks for HDD password before it boots.

Any suggestions for utilities or approaches I might take to rescue my client's (non-backed-up!) data?

Thanks.
- Admin almost 9 years
  
  Are you able to slave the disk into another machine and mount the disk as if it were a memory stick? To be able to answer this we need to know if the password is to "boot" the OS, or whether it's stopping complete access to the disk's controller functionality...
- Admin almost 9 years
  
  If it is a self encrypting disk, there is no way to access it without the password. Note that this is/can be different from a bios disk password.
- Admin almost 9 years
  
  @BigChris, I cannot access it as a slave drive. In Windows 7, it asks for a password before giving the opportunity to select BIOS settings. It is indeed a different password from BIOS password.
PhillipOReilly almost 9 years

Yep, much to my chagrin, yours is apparently the correct answer. Thanks!
PhillipOReilly almost 9 years

Follow-up: "If you forget your HDD User Password, TOSHIBA will NOT be able to assist you, and your HDD will be rendered COMPLETELY and PERMANENTLY INOPERABLE." Toshiba Forum